Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-03-26
THE WHISTLE WAS DUMB,
For n Few Days Only. and Why IL Il
Not Speak-An UnPu hi shed Chapter.

For n Few Days Only. and Why U Did
Not Sp.ak-An unpu biish-d Chapter.
For several days this week, the insane
whistle on the on the works of the Stand
ard Manufacturing company failed to run
up and down the scale As is its wont. Morn
ing. noon and night it was hushed. People
began TO joke about 1t, and inquire whether
it had been hanged by vigilance commit
tee. But they did not know the secret of
its speechlessness.
In an humble house not far from where
the throhbing machinery kept up its eternal
turmoil, little pallid form lay on a couch.
battling with the death angel and striving
to keep in little life" White
as lly-petal the child looked
white and wan with the unequal
struggle against diseaSe-and the parents
hearts smote them A. they looked or the
face of their child. Still as the grave was
the house, the slightest noise being painful
10 the little patient. But when the great
whistle would cry out and rush hoarsely up
and down the scale. as though trying To es-
cape from the confines of the octave, the
little face would contract into look of
prof0undeSt pain, and the little hands
, would seehr the head in a dumb. pathetic
manner, as though the poor, white. trans
parent fingers could shut out the agony
The nerves. mad with activity as the facul-
ties slowly died. rebelled against the pain
caused bs the hoarse whistle.
So the child's parents spoke to the pro-
prietors of the shop aud asked them if they
would not cease Ia blow il until the child
got better. And the little child frightened
for a moment and woke back into life
enough to add her faint little request that
the, ..Huld keep it still just few days I'M
til she got well. The proprietorS gave them
instant consent and the yelling monster
was tlrUttled.
Only few days" the child had asked.
| ''until get well" Only few days"
the mother sobbed from her breaking heart
''Only few days" and she would not
utter TO herself the horrible dread that lin
iShed the sentence. aS her mute lips and
mothers heart could not-dare not.
/ =
The change came soon. In a few days
the closed shutters were opened little and
the early March sunshine crept timidly in,
Shivering from the cold outside. One tiny
bea Of light iloated past few pots of
flo Sers on the window sill and stole its way
~
p lrently found what il was searching for,
a nj it fingered and imprinted kiss on the
< rssamer eyeIids of white. still little face.
But the infant beam could bring no warm
10 the cheek, nor did the two little hands
unclasp to greet their golden play-fellow,
the sunbeam. There was an odor OF flowers
about the place, and little white coffin
held in its sacred embrace the body of
little girl. 1t was only few
days. and the change had come. He
who had said, Suffer little children to come
unto Me-" had oped his arms, in which a
universe of souls has found the peace they
sought: and the little one has gone to sleep
on His bosom.
The next day. white hearse crept SLOWLY
through the arched gate at Ferncliff and
down the pathway guarded by mighty rocks.
4 train of carriages followed. That night.
the whistle on the shop again beloved
forth its hoarse chromatic diapasOn.
C,URIpIET